


There's No Problem That's Too Big (When You're Married, That's The Gig)

by aintweproudriff



Series: Race, Spot, Albert, and Elmer [19]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: ... - Freeform, Gen, M/M, first comes love then comes marriage then comes, healthy discussion about next steps in a relationship, im so excited you guys, these babies are so cute and instantly loved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-08 18:48:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14700093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aintweproudriff/pseuds/aintweproudriff
Summary: Not everything is going to be handed to the boys; sometimes it takes a different path than they intended.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> im not gifting it to you guys but im dedicating this as per usual to elmerspape and heckthepeck because you guys have all the ideas, I just write them

After the wedding and the honeymoon in Jamaica, the four of them had arrived home in a dazed and sunburnt stupor. The apartment, compared with the hotel rooms they had been living in for the past week, felt giant. To Elmer, however, it felt off. The big floor space and the pristine air inside the home strangled him. The empty space felt so much different than what Elmer had grown used to over the chaotic vacation. He tried to shrug it off, letting himself climb into bed with his husbands - if he were being honest, that label still made him grin. If only he had known eleven years ago that the boys he had a crush on ould be his husbands one day, he never would have wasted time pining over them. Instead, he would have gone for it. Asked to hang out with them, or something. Not that it mattered; he was here now, with them, in this apartment that felt too big and too small all at once. 

He assumed that the feeling would disappear after a few days. Everything would go back to normal, and he would be contented with his own little home and his own four boys and his own happy life. Not so. Instead, the feeling grew and grew, continuing to wrap around his neck until finally-

"I think we need to find a new house," Race told the group at dinner. "An actual house, with a few more rooms than we have now. At least one more bedroom."

"Why?" Albert shook his head. 

"Can we afford that?" The lines on Spot's forehead grew more pronounced. "After a trip, a wedding, and an apartment that's working just fine for what we need, why would we spend more money on a house?"

"I think Elmer knows," Race swallowed, and pointed at him. 

Elmer nodded. "I think we're ready for a next step."  
"A next step," Spot looked like he was catching on, and wasn't too happy about it. "You mean-"

Elmer grinned hopefully.

"Okay, we absolutely aren't able to afford that," Spot sighed. "Not right now, anyway."

"Financially, it might be hard," Race conceded. "At least at first. But we're young, and I really think that now or soon is the best time to do this. You know? At our age, we'll be able to move around and do things with them, and it will make it a lot easier in the future."

Albert raised his hand, like he was in a classroom. "I still don't understand what we're talking about. Deal with what while we're still young?"

 

"Oh honey," Elmer whispered, a smile tugging at his lips. "You must know, right?"

"I'm clueless here."

"Elmer and Race," Spot breathed heavily, "want to talk about having kids."

"Kids?" Albert raised his eyebrows, his eyes widening. "Kids. Okay, I guess we can talk about kids."

"Good!" Elmer bounced in his seat. "And we're not talking about kids, plural. Kid. Singular. I just want to talk about having one kid; I'm not sure we would be ready or able to provide for more than one."

"I think we'd be able to, honestly," Race looked up. "Four salaries, four people able to help around the house, four dads. We'd have the means to handle one kid, maybe even more if it came to it. Four to one is a good ratio."

Albert nodded along with Race's logic. "And, none of us would be so stressed out that we couldn't ask for help from someone else. We have a support system in place to take care of a kid."

Spot put his hands on the table, so that he could feel the cold wood. "I dunno, you guys. I mean, really. Are we ready? It's such a big commitment, and I've never personally been super good with kids. I know you all are, but I can't handle them as well as you can. Certainly not as well as Elmer can."

"Now that's a lie," Albert glared at Spot. "We've all seen you with Ivy. You're such a good uncle, I can't imagine that you wouldn't also be a good dad."

"Spot. If you're not comfortable with having kids, we can wait to make a decision," Elmer leaned close to him. 

"Yeah, of course," Race walked over and put his hand on Spot's shoulder. "It's not an immediate thing, but we should start talking about it so that we have an idea of what we wanna do."

Spot took a big breath. "Alright. Is it something that all three of you guys wanna do?"

Elmer nodded.   
Albert nodded.   
Race nodded. 

"Okay then," Spot's lips turned up to one side. "Maybe we can look into it. But we really need to talk about when we want to start, and when we're really going to be ready. And I think Elmer's wrong about one thing, though."

"What's that?" Elmer smiled at Spot, happy that he'd gotten him to admit that maybe kids were an option for their already-big family. 

"I don't think we would need a new house before we actually do anything. We're pretty packed in here, but it's so rare that all four of us are here at one time, and we've got another bedroom in the apartment. One bathroom might be rough, but I think we could do it. Especially if it's only one person that we're adding."

"Are you sure?" Race asked. "You were the one concerned about practicality."

"We would save more money that way," Albert pointed out, turning his hand toward Spot. "We could save for the adoption and then save for the house and move when the kid is a little older."

"A good point!" Spot grinned. "And, that way, you all could get to looking into it faster. Isn't that the goal here?"

Elmer rolled his eyes. "You're funny. You think that you're not going to get sucked into researching adoption. I know you better than that."

Race turned away from Spot and towards Elmer and Albert. "He'll pretend he's too cool but really he'll end up fawning over the kid, right?"

"Absolutely."

Spot stayed silent, but the tips of his ears turned bright red.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :')

Jack, Davey, and Crutchie sat at their kitchen table, all of them holding their heads in their hands. Spot and Albert had taken the spots on the couch, while Race and Elmer stood in the kitchen, watching their siblings-in-law intently. Rosie laid at Jack’s feet, hoping he would drop some of the food he was eating. 

“We contacted an agency that we had been referred to by Medda,” Davey explained. “Somehow, she always knows these things.”

Spot scoffed and shared a look with Jack. They both knew that that much was true, but she probably had experience in adoption from her adventures with the two of them. They knew she had trouble adopting as a single mom, so she knew an agency that would allow for a queer polyamorous couple to adopt, despite the oddity of the request. 

“Well anyway,” Davey continued, “they were very nice, and told us that they would put our application up on the website and let us know when a birth mom who was okay with our relationship chose us.”

Jack pushed forward a business card. In green font, “Forever Adoptions” was scrawled. An icon of a house and a phone number were underneath the title. Race stepped forward, picked it up, and analyzed it. 

“It all happened pretty fast, actually.” Crutchie shifted in their seat. “Apparently, the birth mom actually felt more comfortable with polyam parents. She said that she couldn’t raise the baby on her own, so she wanted people who had a good support system. Maybe you guys would get lucky like that too!”

Jack sighed. “I wouldn’t count on it, you guys. Adoption is hard for straight couples, harder for queer couples, and really hard for polyam hopefuls. You never know how long it’s going to take.”

“But if you guys got lucky, maybe we could too? Maybe there’s a chance?” Elmer’s eyebrows raised and his cheeks flushed in hope. 

“Sure, maybe.”

Spot glanced at Albert. They wanted Elmer to get what he wanted, of course, but they were so scared that it would be more difficult than that. 

-

Two weeks passed since the conversation with Jack and his spouses. Their application had gone up on the website; it was a cute picture of them from when they were still dating, and were goofing around on a hiking trip. Race’s face was twisted in laughter, Albert was on Spot’s shoulders, and Elmer was watching them, a worried expression on his face. Their page header was one of the four of them after the wedding, in matching suits, all of them aglow. “Sean, Anthony, Albert, and Elmer,” read the page title. Beneath it, in a green box, was their story, which expressed a little bit about how they met, how they got married and exactly what that meant for a polyamorous relationship, and how much they wanted to raise a child. It looked perfect. But two weeks passed, and the profile was mostly untouched. 

-

A month passed since the day that they put up the profile. Elmer checked every day to make sure that everything was right on it. He analyzed and re-analyzed the grammar, debated and re-debated changing the photos, and coerced his husbands to make a video for the page. 

“Hi, my name is Elmer.”  
“I’m Sean, Spot to my friends.”  
“My name is Anthony, or Race to my friends.”  
“And I’m Albert.”

“The four of us got married some time ago,” Elmer linked his hands with Spot’s, and smiled nervously at the camera. “It was a ceremony that meant a lot to us, and to our friends and family.”

“Our relationship has grown so much since we started dating, almost eleven years ago,” Spot continued when Elmer squeezed his hand. “It’s been a lot of figurin’ out who we are, and who we want to be. What we’ve found is that it doesn’t matter so much who we are as individuals. I mean, we’re great people and all, but what really matters is who we are as a family.”

“And we are already a family, and a big one,” Race chuckled a little. “Four people and a dog before any kids is a big family. That doesn’t even take into account the fact that we all have extended families - who we’re very grateful are accepting and kind - and we have a huge, loving friend group, many with families of their own.”

“Because we have such a big family, we know the value of love and acceptance” Albert smiled at his boys. “We know what a big family can be like, with all its chaos and affection. And we want to promise the same thing for our child. A family that loves them, and teaches them to love and dream and gives them the happiest life possible.”

“So we want to thank you for looking at our profile,” Elmer endeared. 

Spot nodded. “And for being strong enough to go through this process.”

“We know that, no matter how you’ve stumbled upon us, the journey to get here has probably been difficult,” Race said sincerely.

Albert smiled softly. “And we ask you to please consider helping us to help our little but big family grow a little bigger.”

One month passed, and the video was mostly unwatched. 

-

Three months passed with the profile up, and the hopeful parents grew more and more hopeful and more and more antsy with every passing day. They all left unspoken the way that all four of them had bookmarked their page, to watch and see if people were reading their profile or watching their video. As moderators, they were allowed to see the hits that their page was getting - or rather not getting. It stayed vacant for days on end, only racking up a few hits once a week or so. Even Spot was constantly checking his phone and computer, trying to see if maybe a call or an email from the adoption agency had come through. They didn’t talk about it. When Jack, Davey, or Crutchie tried to bring it up, they shooed the question away. Usually, their siblings-in-law were understanding. But it didn’t help that Ivy knew that she might be getting a cousin from her uncles and not just her aunts. 

“When’s Uncle Spo’s baby gonna get here?” she would ask her parents, sitting on Elmer’s lap. 

“We don’t know, sweetheart,” Crutchie replied. “But soon, I hope.”

“Okay,” she accepted the answer, and Elmer bounced his legs up and down.

Three months, and so few hits.

-

Five months passed, and Sarah’s belly was fit to burst from the baby inside her. She went into labor one night, and Jack called his brother’s cell phone in a fit of panic. 

“She’s having the baby!” Jack yelled into Spot’s ear without any warning. Not that Spot minded much.

“Oh my god, really?” Spot had a hard time keeping his feet on the ground. “Boys!” he yelled, putting his hand over his phone. “She’s having the baby!”

His husbands rushed into the room, and Elmer grabbed at Spot’s arm. “Seriously? Oh my god!”

“We’re uncles-in-law now!” Race whispered as Spot hung up.

“Are we uncles-in-law?” Albert’s forehead tightened. “Is that a thing and is that what we would be, since our husband’s brother’s husband’s sister is the one having the baby?”

Spot rolled his eyes, but the joy on his face didn’t dim. “Let’s stick with just uncles, right? We’re practically Sarah and Kath’s brothers anyway.”

“True, true,” Race nodded, and he grabbed Albert’s hand. “This is so exciting!” His face glowed and his feet bounced, like this was the best development possible for his family. 

Hours after the delivery, when the four of them calmed down, Race’s phone rang with an incoming call from Katherine. 

“Hi Kath,” he said. “Is everything okay?”

Elmer’s face fell for a second, suddenly worried about what would happen if something went wrong. 

“Oh good, I’m glad,” Race breathed. “Healthy baby and mama?” he nodded as Katherine answered. “What’s her name? Oh my god that’s beautiful, hold on.”

“What is it?” Albert asked from his spot on the couch. 

“Stella Dawn Jacobs-Pulitzer.”

A collective sigh from the couch filled the room, and they all grinned at each other. 

As the four of them fell asleep, however, there was a bitter feeling in the air. It had been five months, and Sarah and Katherine had their baby, and the four of them still had no offers. 

-

Six months after putting up their profile, Albert saw an email in his inbox. 

“Hey guys?” he yelled to the apartment. His three husbands ambled to the couch, and he pulled up the email. “We have a connection.”

“For real?” Race gaped. “From who?”

“Um, some foster parents. Here. It says: ‘Sean, Albert, Anthony, and Elmer. My wife and I hope that you are doing well, and that you are still looking to take in children. We have been fostering children for years, and right now we have too many to take care of. Two of these boys, Adam and Ryan, are twins and can’t be separated, but they need constant care. None of the families we have contacted previously have the time to watch them as much as they need. We were hoping that a family of four would be more able to help these boys than a two person-family. If you are interested in meeting us and the boys, email us back and we can set up a time! Thanks, Chris and Maddy Bryce.’”

“Twins?” Spot asked. 

“Two kids?” Race whispered. “Would we be able to?”

“Well, Al, email them back!” Elmer hit him gently with the back of his hand. “Tell them that we’d love to meet them and the boys. This is the first offer we’ve gotten, we need to do something. I’m not waiting another six months for hope. I won’t.”

“Okay, okay, I’m emailing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love them and I love Ivy and Stella and Adam and Ryan.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s so late but this needed to to up so here y’all go

Spot rang the doorbell of the home, and the four of them stepped backwards in unison. Elmer’s breath was heavy on Albert’s shoulder, and he reached out to take his husband’s hand. Elmer squeezed tightly, his knuckles white. The door opened, and a kind face peered out at them. 

“Hi,” said a tall woman, her blonde hair in an off-center messy bun at the top of her head. They reached forward and shook her hand. “You must be Sean, Albert, Anthony, and Elmer. My name is Maddy; it’s so nice to meet you all in person. Come on in.” She opened the door all the way, revealing a huge room strewn with toys. “Sorry it’s a mess. Lots of kids here, you know?”

The four of them laughed politely and walked into the house with her. As it turned out, she wasn’t kidding about the kids. On the couch sat a teenage girl, lost in a video game and munching on dry cereal. On the floor sat a girl, probably about five years old, playing with dolls in a big pink dollhouse. From the kitchen came a smell of cake, and the four of them spied a young boy - probably eleven or twelve - frosting cupcakes. At Maddy’s feet was a toddler boy with curly brown hair and gray-green eyes that looked up at the four visitors with curiosity. 

“This is Ryan,” she ruffled the boy’s hair as the six of them walked to the dining room and sat down around the table. “Chris has the baby and Adam.”

Wailing sounded from down the hallway, and the six people looked up. A man walked towards them, holding a screaming child in his arms. “Maddy,” he whispered, “can you-”

She stood up and took the child from her husband. 

“Hi,” he reached out and shook their hands. “I’m Chris, and I’m so glad you guys answered my email. Those two kids really deserve a family, and we can’t give it to them. And everyone else has said that they can’t either, since they’re an absolute handful.”

“Lucky that we have eight hands then, right?” Race laughed, and all of his husbands knew what he was thinking as he looked at the man and at the children. They saw so much love and excitement in his eyes, and all of them smiled at each other. 

“Well, yeah,” Chris grinned. “That’s kind of what we were hoping you would say. Here,” he held out a hand, “Ryan, come here, bud.”

The toddler, who had been playing on the floor with a few stray cars, waddled over. 

“Say hi, Ryan,” Chris whispered to him, somehow audible over the sound of Ryan’s still-crying brother. 

“Hi!” he bounced up to Albert. “Red,” he said, pointing at Albert’s head, making him laugh. 

“Yeah, good job,” Albert bent down. “It is red, you’re right!” 

Ryan grinned, and then turned back to Chris, asking to be picked up. Chris complied, smiling and shrugging at the men at his table. “They’re being good today. Most of the time, they’re more chaotic.”

“More chaotic than that?” Spot pointed, smiling, at Adam. 

“Ch’yeah,” Chris laughed. “That’s nothing.”

“Wow,” Elmer whispered. “How much of a handful are they?”

“Their tantrums get horrible after a while, and there’s hardly any way to stop them. They’ll scream for an hour - sometimes more, but not often.” Chris shook his head. “They invade the spaces of the other kids in the house; no one has any privacy. And they always have to be moving or doing something or something else. There’s no getting them to sit still for even long enough to eat a snack.”

Spot nodded. “Okay, yeah, that’s a lot. And with four other kids in the house-”

“Five, actually,” Maddy supplemented, putting a newly quieted Adam down on the floor. 

“Five, oh my god. That can’t be easy.”

“It’s not,” she said, sitting down and picking Ryan up. Adam moved on to say hi to the new arrivals in his home, and Elmer was overjoyed when Adam let him pick him up and set him on his lap. “And we love these boys a lot, but there’s no way that we could take care of them any longer. It’s just so much.”

“But like we said,” Chris shrugged. “They need constant care, so-”

“Yeah,” Race nodded. “We understand. Um, we actually,” he pointed toward the door. “Should be going here soon. But we’re for sure going to talk about this and get back to you. We’re going to talk a lot about this, and get back to you quickly.”

“Okay,” Maddy smiled as Elmer stood up and gently set Adam down. “We’ll be excited to hear from you.”

The two foster parents walked them out, and then the four were suddenly on the quiet side of the door again. 

“Those boys-“ Spot breathed in. 

“-Are adorable.” Elmer shook his head. “Can we try to, I don’t know, do something?”

“Can we sleep on it?” Race asked. “Come back to this later?”

Promising each other that they would have a decision soon, the four of them headed home.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think these boys forget that their nuclear family is expanding, but their extended family and friends has always had their backs.

They did sleep on it, like they had said. When they woke, Elmer had his answer. Well, if he were honest, he'd had the answer a long time before they went to sleep, but he wouldn't tell that to his husbands. In truth, he was enamored with the twins from the start, although he wasn't sure if he was actually nuts about the toddlers or if he had just wanted kids for so long that he felt like he was. Nevertheless, he understood that they needed to hesitate. Their apartment was cramped to say the least with four people living there. They had discussed one other person, and come to the conclusion that five people could live comfortably, as long as they all loved each other ("it's lucky that we do, then," said Albert, and he made a compelling point). But six? Elmer couldn't be sure that even love could keep the small home from feeling like a cage with six people living in it. 

"So, those are my thoughts," he told the other three over breakfast the next morning. "What do you guys think?"

"Yeah," Spot nodded, his mouth full. He swallowed his bite of toast and explained. "I don't think we can do six people in the house."

"Now that's not what I said," Elmer glared at Spot, who raised his hands. "Don't twist my words."

Spot smiled. "I know it's not what you said. I'm just worried about it, and I feel like if this is somethin' we want to do permanently - and I know it is - then we need to have it be a perfect fit."

"It's never gonna be a perfect fit," Race shrugged. "It's us, for one thing. That's enough to keep it from being simple, right?"

Elmer laughed and rolled his eyes. 

"And for another thing, kids aren't perfect. I dunno that we're ever going to find a perfect kid, or kids, as the case may be. Shouldn't we try it, at least?"

"Okay, what if we foster for a while?" Albert said. "Like, what if we foster Adam and Ryan for a little bit, see if it works, then we can do what needs to be done from there, right?"

A beat of silence passed in which the four of them, sitting around the table, looked at each other. 

"We could try that," Spot nodded. "And then if we don't fit with the kids, it's not like they're ours. That sounds bad, but-"

"We know what you mean," Albert touched his arm. 

Race nodded too, smiling at Elmer. 

Elmer took a deep breath. He really did love being with those kids yesterday, and he knew that Spot, Race, and Albert had too. The way that Race and Albert talked to them and looked at them was enough to prove that much, so Elmer nodded. He knew it would be squished, and chaotic, but maybe it would work for them, and possibly even bring Spot around to the idea. It was worth a shot. 

-

Almost as soon as Ryan and Adam moved into the apartment, the little family was receiving calls right and left from family and friends, all wanting to come over and visit and give well wishes and gifts. 

-

"Yellow?" Race picked up his phone. 

"Race, hi, it's Crutchie!" 

"Yep, I know, I've got your phone number saved in my phone. What's up, Crutch?"

"I heard about the fostering! Congratulations!"

"Thanks you," Race said, holding up the phone with his shoulder and flipping a grilled cheese sandwich. 

"Well anyway, we wanted to know if you guys needed anything. Toys, clothes, any of that stuff that we can help you get. The kids moved in kinda suddenly, and we wanted to make sure you had everything you need."

"Um, you know, thanks," Race cut the sandwich in halves, plated each half on its own plate, and handed a plate to each toddler. The last time he had tried making food and giving it to only Adam while he worked on Ryan's food, it hadn't turned out well. Ryan had stolen food from off of Adam's plate, causing Adam to hit his brother and push him off the chair, leading to melt downs from both of them. "I think we've got a lot of stuff covered, but um, could you guys maybe get some clothes? Not a lot, just a few things. That would really help out. They only have about five shirts and five pairs of pants and underwear and I want to make sure they've got enough."

"Sure, what size do they wear?" Crutchie asked. 

"Um, I've got no idea," Race shook his head, and took a step over to where Ryan sat. He pulled the tag out from his shirt and read it upside-down. "3T," he told his sibling-in-law. 

"Awesome! Is there a specific time we could bring stuff over?"

"Um, anytime today or tomorrow would be great, someone's always going to be home." Race sighed, and sat down at the table. 

"See you later today then."

-

"Hi Kath, how are you doing?" Spot asked into the phone, sitting on the couch watching Paw Patrol, a show he'd never even heard of until the twins wanted them to turn on the television for them. "How's Stella and Sarah?"

"I'm good, and she's good. Mommy and baby are both healthy," she sighed, and he could hear her happiness and pride through the speaker. Good. She deserved to be happy, after Sarah had been pregnant for nine months. "How are you? And how are the twins doing with adjusting to your home?"

"We thought it was going to be kind of chaotic, but we've survived night number one, and we're well through day number two, so I think it's alright. What's up with you?"

"Sarah wanted me to call and make sure you guys don't need anything. We're more than willing to help cook or clean or go buy things for you guys if you need it."

"That's really nice of you," he said, watching Adam and Ryan's entranced faces as they stared at the television. "Are you sure we shouldn't be asking you that?"

She laughed. "Well, maybe. But with two little boys over there with four dads who-"

"-We're not really dads, Katherine," he whispered.

He heard her swallow. "Right. Well, anyway. I feel like Sarah and I have maternal instincts that you four don't have, and we should use those to help you. So. Need anything?"

"Isn't that a little sexist to assume that four men need help?" He asked, and suddenly they were back to the way it was before kids, when they would tease each other on every little thing. "Don't be an asshole."

"Spot Conlon!" She chastised. "Watch your language, we both have babies in our homes. Do you need anything or not?"

Okay, so some things would have to change from before. 

"Um, would you guys be able to bring over some food?" He slouched into the sofa. "I'm a little worried that we're going to be seeing a lot of mac and cheese and grilled cheese and cheeseburgers in the next few months or years, and as much as Race would probably being okay with subsisting on those alone, one of my husbands is an absolute food snob who works at an upscale bakery, so-"

"We'll bring over some frozen casseroles or something. Is tomorrow okay?"

"Yeah, thanks."

-

Elmer's sister actually calls him. That might have been the biggest surprise of having kids in the house; he got a phone call from Missy, who he hadn't even heard from since the wedding, which was seven months ago. Which he wasn't bitter about at all, he promised. It wasn't like they'd used each other to survive and stay even a little bit happy for over a year when their father left. It wasn't like he had come out to her when he was thirteen and she had been the first person in his life to tell him that it was okay. It wasn't like she'd been his maid of honor or anything. 

"Hey El, how are you doing?"

"I'm alright, how are you?"

"I'm good. How was the honeymoon?"

"Really fun," he said, and smiled with the memory of sun on his face. It had been a long time ago. "What's up?"

"Um, I saw the post on Instagram about the kids you're fostering. I was wondering if you maybe wanted some help from Aunt Missy?"

He smiled at the idea of calling her 'Aunt Missy'. He almost couldn't imagine it. 

"Well, we're not dads yet, so you're not an aunt. But we'd love to see you, even if you didn't help. I miss you, Melissa."

She sighed. "I miss you too. You never call."

"You never call," he replied, shaking his head.

"Right. Um, we should work on that?"

He laughed at her. "Yeah, let's work on that. Do you want to come over um, maybe Wednesday?"

"For sure. And what do you guys need me to bring?"

"How about toys?" Elmer asked. "Cars, blocks, dolls, anything like that. Just something to have in the house so that they don't get into our work stuff."

"Awesome. I'll see you guys on Wednesday, then."

"Can't wait."

Elmer put the phone down and smiled, watching Albert and Race play with Ryan and Adam and a ball that Jack, Crutchie, and Davey had brought over. A spark lit in his stomach, and he hoped that something good was going to come of this foster situation.

-

Albert picked up his phone late that night, crawling out of bed and over Race and Spot, dismissing their tired complaints and stepping out into the hallway, then the kitchen before accepting the call.

"Hello?" he grumbled. 

"Al, hi!"

"Buttons, what do you need? It's late and I'm tired."

"Have you been sleeping? Oh my god, did I wake you up? Albert, it's only like nine-thirty." Buttons's voice was much too cheery for having just realized that they woke Albert up from a much-needed sleep."

"B, we have two kids in the house. I need to go to sleep at like nine."

"Right, right. That's what I'm calling about, actually. Henry and Jo and I wanted to know if you guys need anything. Y'know, for the kids."

"That's real nice of you guys. I was actually just thinking that we needed something." He rubbed his eyes with his hand. "What was it?"

"How would I know?"

"I wasn't askin' you. I was thinkin' that we needed car seats for the boys. That's right."

"Car seats, alright, that's a good thing to need. The three of us can go to Walmart or something tomorrow and get those for you. Um, how old are they again?"

Albert ran a hand through his hair. "Um, they turned two in June, and it's October, so-"

"Okay, alright. Thanks, Albert. We'll get those to you sometime tomorrow, alright?"

"Okay thanks. G'night, Buttons."

Albert hung up and went to look out the window. He breathed in the lights of the city for a minute, and then turned to walk back to his own room. On his way, he paused outside the guest bedroom that had been converted into a room for the twins and just listened. When he didn't hear anything, he put his hand on the doorknob and pushed the door open. Of course, as he did so, Ryan rolled over, looked into the light that flooded the room through the crack in the door, and opened his mouth to scream.  
Albert sighed and rushed to his bed, picked him up, and walked with the crying, tired child to the couch in the living room. 

In the morning, Race found them both asleep on the couch, Ryan in Albert's lap, and pulled out his phone to capture the picture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little bit of missy for yall there. i kinda love her


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kinda short, but sweet <3

Elmer collapsed into bed, practically on top of Spot. 

“I cannot wait to go back to work,” he sighed, rolling over so that he avoided squishing his husband. “Dealing with customers who think my food is too sweet is so much easier than this.”

“Oh my god,” Race laughed. “Was it that hard today?”

Sitting up, Elmer glared at him. “Yes. Those kids wore me out by noon.”

Albert fell into bed next to him, and sighed. “Those kids are a handful; they weren’t kidding. They did not want to go to sleep.”

Spot’s voice was lazy, but it was obvious that he was actually concerned. “No? How much of a fight did they put up?”

“Not really a fight,” Albert shook his head. “More of them pulling out every single one of the toys that Missy brought over, and tried to play with all of them. So then of course I had to get them to put them all away, which made Ryan - no, Adam pitch a fit. How are little kids’ lungs so strong, by the way? They should sing opera.”

Everyone laughed softly, suddenly terrified of making noise that would disturb the kids in the other room. 

“Yeah, that was my whole day today,” Elmer ran a hand through his hair. “They sure can scream.”

“How many times did you, like, have to run damage control?” Albert leaned into Elmer, closing his eyes. 

“Let’s see. After you guys left and I made them breakfast, I made the Race mistake-”

“That’s a lot of kind of mistakes, be more specific,” Race said, parroting Spot’s words from the other day. 

Elmer smiled and laughed. “I meant that I gave Adam food before Ryan. And then, you know. Ryan stole his food and then Adam cried and screamed and I had to split that food. Never mind that it was literally dry cereal. And then they were playing, and couldn’t manage to share the cars. So I took some from Ryan, because he had four, and his brother had two. But then Ryan cried, and I had to get them each more of the toy cars. They stayed pretty calm until lunch, then um. I don’t remember who spilled whose juice, but I cleaned up juice at some point. And then thank god that they got tired and slept for about an hour and a half. So I got to tidy up the kitchen and then watch some television for a while. But then of course I heard crying. Um, that time it was a nightmare. But if one of them is up, the other one is up. So I got to calm Adam down from the nightmare, poor kid, while Ryan played a little more. And then we played until you guys got home.”

“Shit. I’m doing that tomorrow then, aren’t I?” Spot asked. 

“Yeah,” Elmer smiled sweetly at him. “And if you swear in front of those kids, I swear to god I’ll drown you in their apple juice.”

Race made a hissing noise by breathing through his teeth. “Morbid, El.”

“Yeah, well. I’m tired. And you know why.”

“Is this going to work, then?” Albert mumbled into Elmer’s neck. “I mean, if it’s so difficult that we can’t do it, what with us taking time off from work to constantly be with them, then-”

“Are you kidding me?” Elmer hit Albert’s side gently. “Today was the best day I’ve had in a long time. Like, it was hard, but it was so fun. I made those kids laugh and we played and I turned music on and they danced and when I helped Adam calm down from his nightmare he snuggled into my chest and it was the sweetest thing ever. I love these boys.”

“Plus,” Spot breathed, “if we couldn’t handle these kids, what does it mean for other families with only one or two parents? There’s no way they can handle them. So we have to try to figure this out, so that another family doesn’t need to. Like Chris and Maddy’s family. We can’t put these two devils on their doorstep again.” Even though he called the twins devils, his smile was audible.

“And what would that mean for the twins?” Race pulled the covers up to his chin. “If they can’t fit in in a family with four parents, then they’re going to grow up thinking they’re not good enough for any family. And that’s obviously not true. I mean, Elmer loves them, I love them, and I think you guys love them too. So we have to figure this out.”

“You’re right,” Albert nodded. “Of course you’re right. Those kids are damn cute. And we’ll - it’s not going to be easy, is it?”

Elmer scoffed and shook his head ‘no’. 

“We can do it, though, right?” Albert asked. 

Everyone nodded. 

“Together,” Race whispered, pulling the covers up so high that all that showed was wispy blonde hair. And yeah, he was right. Of course he was right. They were in this together. That was how marriage worked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and then I don't think I'll write a fic about them actually adopting the kiddos, because that's a lot of legal drama I don't want to research (at least not until I look into adopting my own kids) but they most definitely do adopt them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Come say hi on tumblr @allbesolucky


End file.
